You're Awful, I Love You
by The Emmanator
Summary: There's nothing catchy about the life of a saint. ZachariasPadma one-shots
1. Chapter 1

The first of thirteen loosely connected chronological stories and drabbles, set in 2003 (five years after Deathly Hallows) focusing on Zacharias/Padma, written for rarepair(underscore)shorts on LJ

* * *

London Beckons

_Story One: _Weirdo Flirting

_Prompt: _and now for something completely different

* * *

Parvati and sighed and called her pathetic and dragged her out a week after she and Anthony had broken up.

"You need to get back in the game. You dated Anthony for nearly five years!"

That didn't help.

"I'm 23 Parvati, I shouldn't be dating."

"I'm still dating!" Parvati retorted.

"You've been dating the same guy for three years, that's different."

"So? Lavender still dates. You can still date. You are never too old to date."

So Padma grabbed a green scarf and wrapped it around her to protect from the cold, and they were off to London. "The Leaky Cauldron isn't my ideal place to pick up guys, Parvati," she said as they stood outside the old pub waiting for Lavender.

"It's just a warm up period, it'll be fun. Just loosen up a bit."

"Right," she muttered. "I'm going to freeze my arse off."

"There's Lavender," Parvati said, easily picking the tall brunette out of the crowd.

"Hey Parvati, hey Padma!" she said cheerfully. "Shall we go inside? It's _freezing _out here."

They both agreed and the three of them went inside, sitting at an empty table closest to the fire in hopes of defrosting a little. They ordered drinks and Parvati and Lavender gabbed happily while Padma listened.

"So I'm really sorry about Anthony," Lavender said, tugging on Padma's sleeve. "You can totally do better."

"You think so?" she asked tonelessly.

Lavender flashed a dazzling smile. "Well of course. He always seemed so…bookish, you need someone with some glamour."

"Basically, someone completely different to get your mind off the git!" Parvati agreed.

They continued with their 'motivational' conversation until Padma pointed out the hideous state of someone's robes and sneaked away. She went up to the bar to get their drinks refilled, and saw a familiar face.

"Hannah?"

"Padma! Great to see you, how have you been?" the blond asked, smiling broadly.

"I've been decent. I didn't know you took over for Tom," she said, sounding impressed.

Hannah laughed. "Apparently mixing drinks is a strong suit of mine," she said conversationally. "So who are you here with? Anthony?"

Padma waved a hand dismissively. "No, we broke up about a week ago," she said.

Frowning, Hannah placed three drinks on the counter. "That's a shame. Why?"

"He said I was too difficult," she said, but smiled. "What about you? Any lucky guys in your life?"

She shook her head. "Unless you count the regulars here," she said, shooting a look at some of the men sitting at the bar. "I'm single for the time being."

"There's someone out there for everyone," she said, but heard an audible snort of disbelief from somewhere on her right. "Excuse me?"

"That's the biggest load of shite I've ever heard," he said, turning to face Padma. He pushed long blond bangs out of his eyes.

"Oh shut it, Zacharias," Hannah said playfully.

"Let me correct myself then, Smith," Padma said, glaring at him. "There's someone out there for everyone, except you."

Zacharias shrugged. "Like I care. Sit down. I'll buy you a drink."

"I already have one," she said, gesturing to the full drink in front of her.

"Then finish it."

She sighed, taking the three drinks off the bar and walking over to the table where her sister and friend were still gossiping cheerfully. She passed out drinks and sat down.

"Alright, Zacharias Smith wants to buy me a drink," she told them in a low voice. "Should I do it?"

"Merlin no!" Parvati said.

"Why not?"

"He's a flaming bastard," Lavender supplied.

Padma shrugged. "A free drink is a free drink," she said, finishing her drink and standing up. "Besides, I thought I should be looking for something completely different?"

"By completely different we still meant nice by some stretch of the imagination…" Parvati said hopelessly as Padma disappeared.

"I think we lost her," Lavender said, shaking her head.

"It's just a drink," Parvati said, though she sounded worried.

At the bar, Padma sat down next to the blond. "So, about that drink."

"Does your sister mind you ditching her?" he asked.

"Of course she does. But she has Lavender."

He wrinkled his nose and ordered something from Hannah.

"So you got dumped?"

"That's a great way to start conversation."

He shrugged. "I feel that sugarcoating things is unnecessary."

Hannah handed them drinks, and Padma thought this statement over as she took a swallow, then she nodded. "This is true."

"Reasons?"

"I've already said," she said. "We fought too much. He said I was too difficult to go on with and we left it at that."

He laughed darkly, drumming his fingers on the cup in his hand. "He would've rather had a girl he could walk all over?"

"I expect so."

"Well that's boring."

Padma chuckled. "He was always a bit on the dull side," she agreed. "I expect you're something completely different?"

He shrugged. "That's for me to know."

Someone tapped Padma on the shoulder, she turned to see her sister and Lavender buttoning up their coats. "We're heading home, come on," she said.

Padma nodded, gave Zacharias a fleeting nod and a quickly uttered "bye" and followed her sister and friend out into the freezing cold.

"That's a classic example of weirdo-flirting," Parvati whispered to her twin.

Beating down the excitement, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"He made you laugh."

"He's a funny guy."

Lavender and Parvati exchanged skeptical glances as they walked down Charring Cross, looking for a safe point to Apparate from. "Right. No one makes you laugh."

"Except Zacharias Smith, apparently," Lavender corrected, rolling her eyes and giggling a little.

"You two shut up," Padma said, turning away so she could smile.

Parvati elbowed her a little, still laughing. "We could always ask Hannah about what nights he goes in for drinks so you could bump into him more often," she said, dissolving into giggles.

Rolling her eyes, Padma slipped into an alley. "Real mature, Parvati," she said when they caught up. They Apparated back to Parvati and Padma's shared house and the others didn't say another word to Padma about the certain blond Hufflepuff.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

You're Awake

_Prompt: _A gentleman in closer detail

* * *

Padma had a horrible headache when she woke up, and she wasn't in her bedroom. She wasn't entirely aware of what had gotten her where she was. Black blanket, black sheets, black pillows, sparse furniture and no decoration to speak off.

This definitely wasn't her bed.

"You're awake."

Zacharias Smith was leaning on the door frame, fully dressed, with an eyebrow raised.

"I don't really remember how I got here," she admitted.

"There's something for the hangover beside the bed," he said, waving her comment off. "I'm making breakfast," he added.

She frowned. "That's really nice of you," she said, sitting up and grabbing the goblet and draining it quickly. It tasted horrid, and she promptly gagged when she finished.

"That should help with the headache," he said, walking away.

She got up, noticing she was dressed, she only seemed to be missing her shoes. That was a good sign.

"What happened last night?" she pressed.

"Nothing, really," he said.

She put her hands on her hips and glared. "Why are you being difficult?"

"I'm not being difficult, I'm being honest."

"We got drinks, I remember. But how did I end up here?"

"You were too drunk to Apparate and my flat was within walking distance, so I brought you here. I didn't think you'd appreciate sleeping on the couch."

"That's really nice of you," she found herself repeating.

"What's with the tone of surprise?" he asked, finishing his cooking and setting out two plates.

She sat down, frowning. "Well, you're…not nice."

"I'm nice," he contradicted. "Just not to everybody."

She rolled her eyes and he fixed his plate. "Do you want any?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, taking some bacon and a piece of toast. "Thanks."

He shook his head. "Whatever."

"So nothing happened last night?" she asked.

"Nothing like you're thinking," he said with a shrug. "I was drunk so I wasn't really trying for that. I think we just passed out. We may have snogged a bit."

She groaned.

"Is that bad?"

"I can't remember it."

"Is _that _bad?"

"…Yes."

He looked a little awkward, and finished his breakfast with haste. "I have to go to work," he said through a mouthful of bacon.

"Oh, yeah. I need to get back to Parvati," she said agreeably, finishing her breakfast. She put her dirty plate in the sink, gave him a fleeting, awkward smile and wave 'good-bye' and walked out of the flat.

--

Pushing the door to her house open, Parvati was sitting on the couch, her legs crossed and her arms crossed over her chest. "Well?"

"What?"

"Don't play that with me, Padma. You were gone all night. With _Smith." _She had a slightly amused, slightly disgusted look on her face.

"Nothing happened."

"What do you call nothing?"

"We had drinks, and I was too drunk to Apparate home so he took me to his flat and we fell asleep."

"That's _all?" _

"We may have snogged a little, but I don't really remember. This is all what he told me. He even cooked me breakfast, he's not that horrible, Parvati."

This obviously surprised Parvati very much.


End file.
